Jews in the Diasporah - what does Israel's 65th Independance Day (today) mean to you?

It means that if things turn to shit here in the US I have somewhere to go.

Although raised in a Zionist youth movement, I fear my attachment to Israel has suffered greatly in the years since the 67 war and the Occupation.

@Rarebear Yeah, me too. At this point I’d rather be blown up in a bus in Tel Aviv than gunned down in my local movie theater here in the U.S. Such a choice.

I think the only relative I had in Israel (1st cousin once removed) has died – don’t know if he left descendants. My immediate ancestors came to the US in 1905. I’ve never visited Israel but it’s always on my bucket list.

I’m glad my fellow Jews found a homeland shortly after WW2 & the holocaust. It’s a very peculiar political anomaly – this tiny, first-world industrialized ally of the US, reputedly having the best air force in the world, sitting in the middle of a third-world underdeveloped Arab region, surrounded by neighbors all of whom are their sworn enemies who wish for their extermination. It just keeps getting funnier…

My uncle covered Jewish affairs for The New York Times in the ‘40s through late ‘60s. He was quite well known, actually. He was in Israel on all the imporant dates in ‘48 including May 19 to hear David Ben-Gurion announce statehood. I have several cherished photos of my uncle, whom I adored, with Ben Gurion and Gold Meir, both of whom he knew well.

As for how I feel on this anniversary, I have mixed feels which I’m unable to adequately express in writing.

Very disappointed ever since the right wing took over Israel. Even more so when they made liberal Jews like myself unwelcome.

Israel used to be a democracy. It is now a theocracy.

@elbanditoroso , this sounds a great deal like how the ‘conservative christians’ have taken over the government of the United States.

I’m with @Rarebear.

Everyone I know who visits israel tells me once you go there you feel differently. Meaning your loyalty to Israel and understanding for their position intensifies. I’m inclined to believe it.

On a day like today, I think of my people, the Jewish people, even more than Israel. I think about how I want my people to survive. I think how I want the Jewish people to live in peace, and I think about how Impressive Israel is, what has been built there since Israel was given her independence. I guess having a country helps survival, but at the same time as an American I think a democracy not seeded in a religion is the ideal. A world without borders, without religious borders. But, that isn’t reality.

It’s complicated.

@Linda_Owl – yes, very similar.

Israel is the home of my people and somewhere I would be welcomed home if I ever wanted or needed to come home. In most of our history we had no such place of refuge and many of us died at the hands of others. It could easily happen again if not for Israel.

I have mixed feelings. I gave up on religion a long time ago, but I still identify myself as a Jew. I am glad for the existence of Israel, which was born a week before I was, but I am disappointed that the Israelis seem to have given up on a two state solution to the Mideast problem.

Thank you all for sharing.

Chag Sameach.